Minnesota here we come!!!

Right now we are at gate N16 at Sea-Tac waiting to board our 11:20am flight to Minneapolis (well, really to Chicago, and then to Minneapolis). Why are we flying to the MN??? For Molly's wedding!!! Molly is one of Emily's best friends from Whitman, so we're really excited to see her again and go to her wedding. Last time we saw her was in Washington DC in 2010.

Somehow we managed to pack all of our bags and get to the airport with plenty of time. And it was a good thing, because even though we got to use the express family lane to go through airport security (thanks Abe!), it took us like 20 minutes to actually have our bags scanned and get all the way through security. Abe's diaper bag was a little suspicious (that's my fault - I forgot we had sun block lotion and desitin in there), as was his Play-Doh. They had to double-check to make sure we could bring it on the plane.

One we got to our gate we decided to buy some bagels for lunch on the plane. Little did I know that three bagels would cost $17.60!!!!! I said "$17 for three bagels???" And the lady said "They're pizza bagels". I don't care if they're dipped in freakin' gold, three bagels shouldn't cost $17. These better be the best damn bagels I've ever had in my life.

We get into Minneapolis after 9PM, and then it's off to my Heidi and Brad's house. Heidi is my cousin, and we'll be staying with her family for a few days while we're in town. It will be really nice to see Heidi, Brad, and their two daughters Katie and Emma (Katie and Emma are actually my generation - we're 3rd cousins).

Should be a fun weekend. We've brought lots of distractions for Abe on the plan (i.e. Play-Doh, Thomas the Train DVDs, coloring book, regular book, snacks, etc). Hopefully everyone won't want to kill us by the time we hit Chicago!

5 years!

Five years ago today Emily and were married!!! So far it's been a wild and wonderful ride that brought us to Alaska for three years and a wonderful dog named Banjo and an even more wonderful and incredible son named Abe! Here are some pics of our wedding that I dug up. Of course I could only find two discs of our wedding pictures, and one of the discs only had like 5 pictures on it. Enjoy!

Let's toast! From left to right is Emily's brother Jacob, my friend Gil, Scott, me, Emily, Hannah, and Emily's friends from Whitman Molly and Tessa.
Don't our programs look nice.
The girls getting ready.
Calvin, Mom and Dad.
The dance with the parents.

Jacob and Jenilyn.
More toasting!

Let's eat cake!!!

Smootch!!!

Our good friend Mike Won from Whitman.
Never enough toasting!!
Hannah giving her speech.
Scott doing his best man duties.
Chap and Marta. They just got married last Saturday down in Costa Rica. Congratulations you two!!!
Emily and her Grandpa.
The Marcus House gang from Whitman: Libby, Jacka, Conrad, Joe Thayer and his wife Minna.
More Whitties: Dan, Justin, Melissa, Brown John and his date (????)
One the beach in Golden Gardens after the ceremony.
Check out the happy couple!!!

More from Abe's birthday

On Abe's actually birthday (August 26th) my parents and Scott took Abe and me out to eat for some birthday pizza at California Pizza Kitchen up in Northgate. Abe definitely enjoys his pizza. And while we were waiting for it he enjoyed walking around in the mall.

After Emily got off of work, we took Lil' Bud to the zoo. We saw some elephants, which I thought were pretty cool. Abe is cute because he can say 'elf' when we sees elephants.
Two 'efls' out for a play.
We also hit up the komodo dragon house. There are also meerkats and an anteaters, too.
This box must have been full of ants, because the anteater was absolutely going to town on it. He would only briefly take his head out of the box from time to time.
They have this temporary Dinosaur exhibit at the zoo that we went too. They have these animatronic dinosaurs that move, roar, and spit water at you. I think Abe was a little overwhelmed by it all. I thought it was pretty cool. I read the little information markers of all of the dinosaurs.
Since it was Abe's birthday we let him pic a present out for himself at the gift shop. He picked a little dinosaur cup. Emily modeled a nice dinosaur head for us as well.
After the zoo we went to El Sombrero in Columbia City (not Walla Walla). Here's Abe catching a Colt's pre-season game in the bar.
Emily made sure to tell the staff that it was Abe's birthday, and they did not disappoint. They brought out a cute little sombrero for the guy and gave him a yummy birthday treat.
"Gobble gobble yum yum....."
Dad and the birthday boy.
Since Emily's Grandpa wasn't going to Abe's big family party on Sunday, we went over there after dinner so he could celebrate with Abe. Emily made some tasty lemon cupcakes for Abe.

It's hard to believe that Abe is already two! He's growing up so quickly, and he's learning so many new things everyday. We just love him so much!!!

A boy turns Two!!!

Our little Abram SaanZai Hoff turned two almost two weeks ago, on August 26th. We had a big family Birthday BBQ for him on Sunday the 28th. It was a wonderful evening to have everyone hang out in our backyard. Abe had a bubble machine and pinata ( both thanks to Auntie Nanna). Abe had a fun time banging on the pinata, but needed a little help to crack it open. And the poor guy gets so sad when it's all over. Take a look!